Well, of course social networking is growing rapidly, but I still like one of the tenants that Google keeps repeating - it is all about the Internet. One site - even as great as Facebook or MySpace are - will never satisfy all of the needs of users. The Internet has created a level playing field.

To me, there is tremendous value in this new wave of social networking. But it can not be the captive domain of a few megasites, even if those megasites are dominant. Every web site needs to be able to take advantage of the power of social networking. And it is more than just blogs and walls. Companies will weave social networking into their applications to make their web sites more engaging. This may mean some of the ad money spent on banner ads - even targetted banner ads on the mega-social networks - will get spent on companies building social networking into their own sites. Not to compete with the Facebooks - but to be more useful to their existing and hoped-for users.

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Hi Bob. Just yesterday I wrote a post that made the same point, with a focus on owning and running your own web apps, including social apps. And, as you can see, I put high hopes in the part you are going to play in this... :-)http://stage.vambenepe.com/archives/161All the best!

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